On January 10th, 1826, the brig Virginia arrived at the port of New Orleans after a 23-day journey from Baltimore. Aboard were 36 enslaved men, women, and children who had survived the harrowing voyage. The Virginia, captained by William Daggett, had made this journey multiple times over the years, transporting hundreds of enslaved individuals for the Woolfolk slave trading firm. These enslaved passengers had been purchased by agents representing planters, farmers, merchants, and politicians from around the Chesapeake region, sold for cash before being shipped south.
The manifest for the Virginia’s winter journey offers little information about the lives of the passengers before their forced migration. However, some of them were listed with surnames, perhaps indicating the names of their former enslavers—Brown, Gibson, Parker, Bennett, Wright, Rice, Grace, Wilson, and Johnson. Among these passengers was John, a 26-year-old man described as dark-skinned and 5 feet 6 inches tall. Also aboard were 17-year-old Nackey Johnson and her 3-month-old son, John.
After their arrival in New Orleans, the manifest was reviewed, and the enslaved individuals were likely taken to the Woolfolk slave pin. Within weeks, John, Nackey, and her son were made “ready for sale”, and on February 1st, 1826, Benoit Vanhille, a wealthy French planter from St. Landry Parish, attempted to purchase the three of them, along with another enslaved man named George. While the initial sale fell through, Vanhille returned five days later and purchased all four individuals for $1,540.
Vanhille’s motivation for acquiring these enslaved individuals likely stemmed from the expansion of his plantation. In recent years, he had been acquiring more land, joining the ranks of the wealthy Creole class in southwestern Louisiana. A decade prior, Vanhille married Caroline Fontenot, a member of one of the region’s wealthiest and influential families. Her older brother Jacques Dupre would serve as the eighth governor of the state of Louisiana. As his landholdings and influence grew, so did Vanhille’s need for additional labor, and the New Orleans slave markets provided a solution.
Exactly why John and Nackey were sold together remains uncertain, but there is a possibility that they were seen as a family unit. Perhaps Vanhille recognized their bond and decided to keep them together. Alternatively, Nackey’s reproductive potential may have been a key factor in the sale, as she had already given birth to a son. Vanhille, like many planters of the time, likely viewed enslaved women as investments for the future labor force, with their ability to produce the next generation of enslaved workers being a key consideration.
Once purchased, Nackey, John, their infant son, and George found themselves far from the familiar culture of the Chesapeake region. The rural, francophone world of southwestern Louisiana was markedly different from the English-speaking, likely Protestant culture they had known. The Creole population in St. Landry Parish, many with deep roots in the region dating back to the previous century, spoke French or Creole French and practiced Catholicism.
By 1830, Benoit Vanhille and his wife, Caroline Fontenot, enslaved 70 individuals. However, just days after purchasing John, Nackey, and George, Benoit transferred ownership of all four enslaved individuals to his son, Louis Vanhille, who was assuming control of the family’s plantation and business interests. For reasons that remain unclear, Louis decided to take John and Nackey to neighboring Lafayette Parish, where, on October 13, 1828, he sold them to William Greig, a Scottish-born planter from nearby St. Martin Parish.
This sale marked the first time that Nackey and her son, John, were separated from their shipmate and possible partner, John. It’s unknown whether Nackey was aware of the plan to sell them or if it came as a sudden, heart-wrenching separation. Was the sale a form of punishment? Or was it simply another routine transaction in the business of human commodification?
What is known is that Nackey and her son’s fate becomes murky after this point. William Greig remained in St. Martin Parish until his death in 1841. In his holographic will, Greig left all of his property to his wife, Eliza R. Butler. The will notably mentions only one enslaved individual by name—Sambo, a boy who was to be given to a family friend “as soon as he was of age to be separated from his mother.”
When Greig’s estate was inventoried following his death, seven enslaved people were listed, but Nackey and her son were not among them. This absence raises more questions than answers. Were Nackey and her son sold again in the intervening years? Had they died before Greig’s death? Their fate, like that of so many others, remains obscured by the fragmented records of the time.
Nackey Johnson’s story, though incomplete, reflects the devastating impact of the domestic slave trade on families and communities. Her journey from Baltimore to New Orleans, and from one enslaver to another, is a stark reminder of the ways in which enslaved individuals were treated as commodities, their lives shaped by the whims of the people who bought and sold them.